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Ballet, like opera, is wonderful because it is monstrous, the hyper-development of skills nobody needs, a twisting of human bodies and souls into impossible positions, the purchase of light with blood.

The skeleton of a young girl, about 14 years old, was found in a room [in Pompeii] holding an eleven-month-old baby in her arms. The infant was adorned with bronze ornaments, which shows it belonged to the higher classes. The girl cannot be the mother, since she was still in her prepubertal phase. Moreover she clearly did not belong to the upper class. An analysis of her teeth reveals that she had been severely ill or undernourished in the first year of her life. Various molars displayed abscesses and shortly before her death a few teeth had been extracted. Her shoulder muscles bore traces of unremitting physical effort caused by lifting heavy weights. Most probably, Bisel concludes, she was a slave girl who was given the care of the baby by her master, unfit for other tasks, as she was worn down by hard labor.

Upright piano, John Osborne, Boston, 1818–21. Mahogany, rosewood; h 5711/16, w 439/16, d 211/16. Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Photo, Gavin Ashworth. (x)